The Debate Over Healthcare Reform

16th of August 2009


THE DEBATE OVER HEALTHCARE REFORM


I am sick and tired over politics as usual in Washington DC. The only ones winning in the gridlock that has become the Washington beltway are the politicians who have received huge sums of money as bribes by the Medical Community and Insurance Industry. Healthcare lobbyists have spent more than a billion dollars this year alone fighting the proposed Healthcare Reforms.

Let’s break down what we’re fighting for: insuring millions of Americans who are cannot afford the huge cost of health coverage. We have one of the highest unemployment rates we’ve seen in over fifty years. That leaves the majority of those people without means for medical needs. When their children or even when they find the need to see a doctor, money is in such short supply that it may mean taking from money for food or paying the mortgage. It is a travesty when someone must chose what they must do without in order to afford the doctor’s visit, the prescriptions or anything else a medical visit may require. It only gets worst if they need an Emergency Room visit. Some families have to go into debt for ten, fifteen or more years because of a hospital stay or even worst; they are denied medical services?

Doctor’s offices and insurance companies play this game where the insurance company forces the doctor to perform their services at a discounted price. The doctors then raise their prices on all services just to maintain the profit margins they wish to make. In turn, when a person does not have insurance to receive the discounted price of services; the doctor doesn’t discount their cost to the individual. The person who needs the discounted cost of medical services the most ends up screwed multiple times over. To expound on the problem my doctor convinced me that I needed to get a Hepatitis vaccination. I started the Hepatitis vaccination process while I was insured by Aetna Insurance Company. I was more than half way through the vaccination process when I accepted a better job. I took the extra steps to find out which of my new insurance options would cover the completion of the vaccinations. The doctor’s office called to ensure which company out of my choices and told me that upon questioning Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO validated that they would pay the remaining balance. Blue Cross Blue Shield then denied that claim stating it was considered a Pre-Existing Problem.

In the process of this, I talked my roommate into having the same vaccinations. He received the same series of shots from the Gwinnett Clinic for a charge of one hundred and fifty dollars for the full batteries of vaccination shots. The half of the vaccinations that was not paid by Blue Cross Blue Shield due to what they called a preexisting claim cost me over four hundred dollars. I had to wonder how the exact same shots cost over six times more. This exemplified the game between the Doctors and the Insurance Companies with all of us getting screwed by both.

Medicine is changing at such a veracious pace and some doctors are better than others at keeping up with those transformations. Some don’t want to keep up and some can’t. Just as with any group, there are good doctors and bad doctors. The bad doctors are running up the cost of Malpractice Insurance for the good ones. There are also good and bad people in this country. Some people want to get rich quick off of the backs of others regardless of entitlement. They will sue any doctor thinking all doctors are rich and can afford it. I do agree that malpractice claims and insurance needs to be evaluated in great details, but this is a separate issue from Healthcare Reform. My personal feelings are that the entire Insurance industry is so far out of control that the entire industry needs to be transformed.

That leads us into the Insurance Companies who are fighting with all they have against Healthcare Reform. They don’t want anyone watching over their shoulders. I worked for several insurance companies and they have teams of people crunching numbers all day every day just to tell management what claims to deny and which ones they need to pay in order not to upset the greater populace. They know that less than fifty percent of all denied claims are fought. Out of the less than fifty percent of those claims that are refuted, they may only be required to pay for a fraction of those. It is all about the numbers and profit margins. The less they pay, the more they make as profit.

The average person just want medical coverage without hearing the word “NO.” The Insurance Industry uses words like Preexisting Conditions, Denial of Claims, Co-Pay and a host of others in order to boost their profits. I believe we call that Corporate Greed! They go way beyond greed by playing games with every thing. If you get this new drug that is known to do a better job, faster and with fewer side effects; you have to pay large sums of money out of pocket because the insurance company won’t pay the higher cost for it. These examples are just a few of the games the Insurance Companies play with each and every one of us, because they cannot cut into their billion or even trillion dollar profit margins. The only things more corrupt than politics; is the Insurance Industry. It would go a long way in making this country a better place to live if we just obliterated the entire industry and started over.

The jest of this fight has to do with common decency and respect for all of our fellow citizens. When hospitals in Los Angeles are paying cab drivers to take patients who don’t have insurance out to the area closest to another hospital simply because the patient doesn’t have insurance, how sick is the system? They do this regularly regardless if those patience are sick, injured or dying, they just don’t want to care for the person who cannot pay for their medical services. What does this say about the Healthcare Industry or where is the dignity for our fellow humans. The main debate has centered on the cost of the over-haul and that outrages me more than anything. It shows that those Congressional leaders have no compassion or regard for any of us, the citizens they should be fighting for. I don’t agree with giving President Obama a blank check, but cost should be the last thing debated over. It shouldn’t matter what the cost, when every single life is worth more than the cost of reform.

My suggestion is to eliminate all emergency, medical and prescription services for all Congressmen, all Representatives and all of their families until they find a way to provide medical coverage for every living citizen of the United States. If you cannot afford medical coverage and must go without, then we should not provide it to our elected officials. When those people we elect to take care of us in Washington are made to suffer as millions of Americans must every day, maybe they might look upon this debate in a different manner.

As for the Lobbyist; I think all lobbyists should have to apply for a license with strict laws in place and full disclosure of their activities. Campaign reform laws should stop the passing of funds to any politician with no Lobbyist able to be behind closed doors with any politician…ever. Lobbyists are lower than Lawyers, lower than Politicians and even lower than pond scum. They are the medium that allows the corruption to play out with our elected officials. I think new laws should be passed that severely punishes the politician, the lobbyist and the person or company that is caught unduly influencing any elected official.

Healthcare Reform needs to pass thereby eliminating uninsured citizens. When politicians want to play with the lives of their constituents, it is time for them to be removed from office. The cost of healthcare coverage should be the last issue on the table. When it becomes the first issue, those politicians making it so also need to be removed from office, because they are the ones who have been bought and paid for by the Medical Profession and the Insurance Industry. The lives of US citizens are more valuable than your pampas and arrogance; so set ego aside and do your jobs by finding a way to insure every American.


Your humble servant – Todd M Dobson